Monday, October 7, 2013

BLIZZARD WARNING! Shelter at the Cafe and share the Caramel Swirl Cheesecake!

Hi everybody! It's the Fresh Pioneer. I know I usually show up on Wednesdays, but there was a massive blizzard warning and I decided to head to Jan's. What was I thinking???

Now we're snowed in.

Of course, Thatcher is having the time of his life! He's thinking blizzards are the best thing ever! That's because he doesn't have to drive. And he's not stuck at work like Jan's husband. Or without power or internet like Jan.
But remember, this is Yankee Belle Café so we've got lots to eat. And cook. And talk about.

So, while the boys play outside, Jan and I reminisced about her post this time last year.... Caramel Swirl Cheesecake!!!
This is her post from last October. Pull up a chair, let's watch the snow and enjoy a little dessert!

(But first, a fun little drawing I found but have no clue which artist gets the credit! Doesn't this look like Beatrix Potter?? Anyway, if you know, tell me! If not, we'll admire them anonymously.)

October 2012
The recipe is from "The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion" -
by far the best cookbook I've bought in a long time.

And don't think
cheesecake is hard to make! It's time consuming, but not hard.

The
biggest misconception people have about cheesecake is that you have to make it
in a spring-form pan. It helps to have one, but you can also use an 8x8 baking
dish, and it works just fine - although maybe not so pretty.

But when
something tastes this good, does it really matter how it looks?

There are
two recipes here - one for the crust and one for the filling. We'll do the crust
first.

You'll need to put
your mixer to work on this one, but don't work it too hard. You want to work at
gentle, slow speeds so you don't incorporate air into the cheesecake mixture. I
use my whisk attachment, but you can also use regular beaters.

At slow
speed, beat the cream cheese until it's soft and doesn't have any lumps. Scrape
the bottom and sides of your bowl a couple times while you do this.

Add
the sugar and salt and mix until well blended.

Add the eggs, one at a
time, mixing until well blended and scraping the sides of the bowl after each
addition.

Now add the vanilla and cream slowly, and mix until it's well
blended.

Measure out 3/4 cup of the filling and put it in a small bowl,
and then pour the rest into your pan, on top of your crust.

Now comes the fun part. I used these caramel
bits, but if you can't find them, use regular caramels, cut them into small
pieces, and continue.

Measure 3/4 cup caramel bits into a microwave safe
bowl, add a couple Tablespoons water, and heat in the microwave, 30 seconds at a
time, until the caramel is melted and you can stir the mixture into a nice,
smooth bowl of caramelly goodness.

Mix your caramel into the small bowl of cheesecake
filling, stirring until its all smooth.

Make sure
your oven temperature is at 325 degrees (aren't you glad you turned it down
earlier?), and put your cheesecake in the oven. Bake it for about 45-50 minutes,
or until lightly browned and slightly jiggly in the middle.

The
cheesecake will puff up like nobody's business! But it won't last.

Turn
your oven off, open the door slightly, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for
another hour. As your oven cools, your cheesecake will continue baking (no more
jiggly center) and cool slowly (hopefully, no cracked top!). And it will
deflate.

After an hour, take the cheesecake out of the oven, run a knife
around the edge to allow the cake to pull away from the pan, and refrigerate for
several hours or overnight.

Yours shouldn't be this brown.

I'm
still fighting with my oven - it refuses to keep an even temperature - but I'm
sure this cheesecake will still taste good!

If you're here too early on Monday
morning to see the final results, check back in later in the day - I'll
post a picture of a slice of heaven - I hope :)

Oh! And a bonus recipe!
If you want to make Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake, just substitute chocolate chips
for the caramel. Now, isn't that easy?

Monday
morning update:

Except for the extra brown top, I'd say this cheesecake
deliciousness was a success. The only complaint I would have is that the caramel
swirls are too similar in color to the regular cheesecake, so they don't stand
out - but you can taste the caramel!

I remember our cheesecake at
conference having more of a caramel texture to the swirls, so when I try this
again, I think I'll use 1 1/2 cups caramel bits instead of 3/4.

On the
other hand, the chocolate swirl is so good...

One other difference between this cheesecake and
others I've had - I followed the recipe's suggestion for a sweeter cheesecake
and used all cream, instead of 1/2 cup cream and 1 cup sour cream that the
Classic Cheesecake recipe had.

This cheesecake doesn't have that classic
tang that I associate with plain cheesecake, but it is still so good!

--------All right, peeps! It's The Fresh Pioneer again. Jan has gone out to shovel the walk so I'll be handling the comments here at the café. Here's to winter and some delicious cheesecake and having someone ELSE shovel the walk!

Love the first snow pictures of Thatcher. Have to admit that I heard about the blizzard heading Jan's way on the news lthis weekend and my first thought was "goodie, Thatcher snow pics!" LOL. Didn't even think about feeling sympathetic for Jan and her neighbours. And up here it is unseasonably warm -- muggy and humid even. Ugh.

I stole them off facebook! You are so funny, Kav, about Thatcher pics! You know, I don't really connect people with their regions. Except maybe Ruthy, who goes on and on about the Yankees. I assume she's in New York!

We had internet at the beginning of the storm, and then for a few hours last night, so I was able to post some pictures on facebook. Clever Virginia!

The one picture isn't Thatcher - it's his dad. Yes, that's Gus, the Cowboy Corgi. Stories are in the works about him and his family.

You can tell the difference if you look closely - Gus is a black-headed tri-color corgi, and Thatcher has more brown on his face. They're both cute as buttons, aren't they? (Oh, sorry Gus...handsome, not cute!)

Loving the blizzard pics!!!! I just sequestered Libby and Jeter into a MONSTER crate in the garage because we've had about 4 inches of rain in the past 24 hours and still pouring and they were playing around the new construction: MUD.... and they're a ridiculous mess! Now they get the garage and a heat lamp until they dry out/clean up. Oh, how funny Thatcher looks in the snow!

Okay, this recipe is going to get tried because I have everything on hand (yes, big pack of cream cheese at Sam's Club AND I buy a quart of fresh whipping cream every week because the new process keeps it fresh!!!! Love it!)

So what if I use the heavy duty caramel syrup that Dave brought me when he was supposed to buy caramel creamer? I now own three 14 oz. jars (remember when they were 18 oz. jars????) of caramel ice cream sauce and I can't think of a better way to use them! And Sam's got Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips back in so I'm happy!!!! How about if we swirl chocolate and caramel together and use a crushed cookie topping????

Oh, so many fun things to do with this recipe. You know what I've found? I can't use my convection oven for cheesecake, pumpkin pie or red velvet cake. The fan PULLS the top layer up on the cheesecake and pumpkin pie and it browns like this one did. For the cupcakes it pulls the batter toward the side so they all have a dollop that spreads across the cupcake pan. How funny!

WEIRD! I never knew that about convection ovens. Now I don't want one like I used to. My dad has a counter top oven and I thought it was a toaster. I looked closer and it's a mini convection oven! Like... WHY?? But with only two people, they like it better than using the big oven. Two pork chops are done in 5 minutes.

I love this recipe but I hope I won't be two days ahead of schedule because you are here Virginia!

And Ruthy, don't you just love it when the hubbies go to the store! You never know what they will come back with! Tell you what, I will just send DS to visit you for his fall break at the end of the week and he will take care of those three jars of caramel syrup all by himself. He loves the stuff!

My kids are loving the snow pictures!! It's raining here and I'm making chicken noodle soup. I haven't heard from Jan since she went out to get the mail an hour ago. Do you think I should go check? Nahhhh. It's warm inside. She'll tunnel her way back! Better leave her a slice of cheesecake...

I'm so glad Virginia stopped by for a visit! Our weather has turned from blizzard to warm and sunny, so our 31" of snow are starting to disappear.

(You wouldn't believe the drifts when you have 31" of snow and 70 mph winds. Doozies!)

And I didn't go to get the mail - we won't have any for a couple days - but I did go to try to find those internet repair guys. I can do without power, but this forced isolation from my internet friends is no fun! They were so nice, and finally got our internet turned back on again - at least for now.

The Small Print

By the way...we're not doctors or nurses. We're not nutritionists. We're not mental health professionals. We just like to eat and chat and share recommendations. All sharing on this blog is the opinion of the individual authors and is for entertainment purposes only. It's not to be taken as medical or health advice. Please always talk to your doctor about what's best for you!